Rhopodytes viridirostris
In 3 days ~10%
The blue-faced malkoha (Phaenicophaeus viridirostris) or small green-billed malkoha, is a non-parasitic cuckoo found in the scrub and deciduous forests of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. It has a waxy, dark, blue-grey plumage on its upperparts and has a long tail with graduated white-tipped feathers. The throat and chin are dark with spiny pale feathers that are branched. The lower belly is a dull creamy to rufous colour. The bill is apple green, and a naked patch of blue skin surrounds the eye. The sexes are alike. The blue-faced malkoha is a bird of open forests and scrub jungle.
A largish species at 39 cm, its back and head are dark grey with an oily green or blue gloss, and the dark tail has graduated feathers tipped with white. The belly is pale ochre to grey. The feathers of the chin and throat are branched (unlike in Phaenicophaeus tristis) with the branched tips being pointed and slightly yellowish giving the throat a streaked and spiny appearance. There is a large blue patch around the eye, with a white fringed red iris, and the bill is apple green. The sexes are indistinguishable by external appearance. Birds from Sri Lanka have a broader white tip to the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiruchirappalli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Mysuru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Tiruppur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Madurai | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-faced Malkoha sighting in Madurai on a given day, based on 22 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 80th most-seen of the 118 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-faced Malkoha in Madurai on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months. That is one of Madurai's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 200 mm in October.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-faced Malkoha sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Blue-faced Malkoha sightings, Madurai ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tiruchirappalli (India, about 20%), Coimbatore (India, about 10%) and Thrissur (India, about 10%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Blue-faced Malkoha that you can see in Madurai (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Asian Koel (about 80%), Greater Coucal (about 60%) and Common Hawk-Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-faced Malkoha is recorded against all the birds logged in Madurai (22 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
